Hi, do you have any tips on how to resist searching answers online? I spend so much time watching reels, reading other experiences trying to understand if I can relate ecc... I want to stop, it's not helping me or giving me a definitive answer, but it's difficult to resist.
Everything is in steps or phases. The first step is to mentally call yourself out, for example: "I am researching again" to improve awareness. Now if this is in response to an OCD thought, urge, image, sensation or feeling - the first step is to call out ocd, "This is an OCD thought", then we practice using Response Prevention Messages to teach the brain there is no threat, I don't need to solve this, it is ocd. an example of response prevention messages are: "Maybe it's true, Maybe it's not, I don't know, OCD" or "That's OCD, I will not figure this out" or "That's an OCD thought, I won't engage". These are examples. Your should have 2 or 3 depending on themes. It take repeated practice to learn to tolerate and reduce the urge to solve, debate, prove, disprove, argue or reassure in relation to OCD. That urge is part of the OCD cycle and practicing skills will reduce the overpowering urge to solve, prove etc., whatever OCD is doing.
Thank you, very helpful!!
I literally just did that before coming here... It's so hard to stop. Google is becoming my ennemy...
Same... I literally just stopped myself mid Google over the fear that I have bipolar disorder 😵💫
-How To Stop Rumination Video: https://youtu.be/CkcspsmLh9k?feature=shared -The Psychology of Seeking Reassurance: https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/reassurance-seeking-ocd-anxiety-how-to-stop-cycle -ERP Techniques for Reassurance video: https://youtu.be/D1O3RGnLjRM?feature=shared
Thank you!!
Oh wow... I just asked a few people today if they're mad at me because I have ocd
Yeah, I don't know how to stop either, it always feels like if I can find the right story then I would be able to related
Yes exactly!🙄
It is really tough but it honestly makes it so much worse. Start small. Set a timer and see if you want wait to do a compulsion. Or set a timer for five minutes to stop. Or replace it with an another activity. Journaling, stretching, etc. it does get easier and the less you do the better you'll feel.
Thanks, I'll try all of that :)
maybe a trigger for rocd-people: Right now I should be working on an essay I have to hand in but my thoughts drive me insane... for the last hour I‘ve searched the internet about the difference between (r)ocd and general anxiety disorder, because I wasn‘t sure, cuz maybe I do not have ocd and its just anxiety, which would mean that my worries about my boyfriend not being the right partner for me are indeed true... and I couldn‘t stop researching, it was so hard to close the browser because maybe maybe the piece of advice I was searching for would be behind the next link... Now I feel so fucking drained and tired and my head still keeps going: what if you do not have ocd, what if you are just acting that you have ocd, what if you do not love your boyfriend, what if my googeling is not reassurance seeking what if it’s just a way my mind is telling me that I do need to leave my boyfriend, what if rocd is not real ocd and everyone just pretends that it is, what if what if what if... and it‘s so fucking draining and I‘m so tired of it? any advice on what to do? (no reassurance obviously)
I was trying really hard not to like google incessantly and go on Reddit and stuff but I caved and I went down this rabbit hole of watching tik toks of women coming out and like comparing/contrasting my experiences with them. How do you stop yourself from doing these things? Especially when it feels like you have to watch the videos in order to like, “figure it out” and whatever. SO-OCD is SO HARD especially when sexuality is so fluid anyway. It’s so frustrating!!
If you experience an excessive need to research and gather information about something how do you handle that compulsion? I find I’m doing that now with my ocd diagnosis and it’s exhausting. There’s never enough information to satisfy it . Any help would be appreciated.
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